A pact to recover our most valuable treasure

The island of Ibiza stands out for its natural wealth and being a tourist destination of international relevance. In this sense, the sustainable management of water resources is essential to guarantee the good condition of the aquatic ecosystems, the well-being of the citizens and the economic prosperity of the island. For this reason, it is necessary to accelerate the achievement of measures aimed at improving the water cycle in order to guarantee the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the island of Ibiza.

In this sense the Pact for the Water of the island of Ibiza are 20 basic measures to be developed jointly by all responsible public institutions and bodies, companies, associations and citizens. The objectives of the Pact are to guarantee a quality supply and prevent the risks of drought, to guarantee an adequate purification of waste water, to promote the reuse of purified water for agricultural, urban and environmental uses, as well as to improve the ecological state of aquifers, wetlands, streams and the Santa Eulària river.

For all this, the public institutions, companies and associations adhering to this Pact undertake to collaborate and work on the achievement of the proposed measures within the framework of their responsibilities under the principles of transparency, citizen participation and institutional cooperation.

2024. Constituted the table of the Water Island Pact promoted by the Alliance

On Wednesday, March 21, the Insular Pact for Water Table promoted by the Water Alliance was established with the participation of local institutions and social entities from the island of Ibiza. The Insular Pact for Water are 20 basic measures to improve the integral water cycle on the island of Ibiza to which all political parties committed before the elections of May 2023. They are priority measures for improve the supply, sanitation, reuse and conservation of aquatic ecosystems and the island's aquifers.

In this sense, this past autumn, the Water Alliance held a first round of meetings with local administrations and the Balearic Government so that the institutions assume the commitments of the Pact for Water as institutions, and not only as to political parties. At the end of these meetings, the first Table of the Insular Pact for Water has been reached with the intention of following up on the committed measures and creating a space for debate and dialogue with all the parties involved.

During the meeting, the priorities for action in the framework of this Pact were debated and the local administrations presented their lines of work in the field of water. Thus, four basic measures have been put on the table: approving saving and reuse ordinances, drawing up municipal sewerage plans and starting the Sa Rota regenerated water irrigation pond. In addition, the need to continue working on the construction of regulation tanks and the reduction of water losses in the supply network has been emphasized. In the environmental field, the main objective on the island of Ibiza is the environmental recovery of Ses Feixes, which constitutes the second most important wetland in the Balearic Islands in terms of ecological restoration.

In relation to the savings and reuse ordinances, the objective is to achieve greater control over large consumers; and promote the reuse of gray water in rehabilitated and newly built homes, as well as other measures related to saving and reuse. In this sense, the Sant Josep Council has already approved its ordinance, Santa Eulària is in the process of approval and the Vila, Sant Antoni and Sant Joan councils have begun drafting it with the support of the Alliance.

The drafting of sewerage plans is another priority objective given that compliance with the new state water regulations approved last summer is mandatory. This rule obliges these plans to be drawn up within three years for their subsequent execution and to guarantee the improvement of the sewer system and the control of discharge points into the environment. On the island of Ibiza this measure is essential to reduce the inflow of salinity into the sewer and enable the subsequent reuse of the water. In this sense, the commissioning of the Sa Rota pond is a priority as a demonstration project of water reuse to then continue working on promoting new irrigation ponds with regenerated water on the island. 

Each of the local institutions has presented its priorities to all the members of the Bureau. The Council of Ibiza has highlighted the future management of ITS funds (Sustainable Tourism Tax) to support municipalities in improving water infrastructure. Ibiza Town Council has explained the upcoming tender for the new water service concession where a large investment will be made to improve the municipal water infrastructure. Santa Eulària City Council has explained the processing of the new water ordinance and the actions they are currently taking. Sant Joan City Council has outlined the upcoming execution of the Sant Miquel regulation deposit and the drafting of the new savings ordinance. The town councils of Sant Antoni and Sant Josep, as well as the Balearic Government, have excused their absence due to agenda reasons.

On behalf of the administrations, representatives of the town councils of Ibiza, Santa Eulària and Sant Joan as well as the Council of Ibiza attended the table. On behalf of the social entities and companies, representatives of the PIMEEF, Ecofeixes, Agricultural Cooperatives, the Association of Ecological Agriculture of Ibiza and Formentera, Veïns de's Rafal Trobat have participated; Casita Verde, Natural Pools; Volunteers of Ibiza, Hotel Federation of Ibiza and Formentera and Aqualia. Attendees have pledged to meet again in six months to follow up on the measures.

2023. Accession to the Pact for the Water of the island of Ibiza

A total of ten political forces on the island signed this morning the update of the Ibiza Water Pact, promoted since 2019 by the Pitiüses Water Alliance, a social platform dedicated to sustainable management of water and which is made up of citizens, public administration and representatives of the private sector, as explained by Maria Àngels Mari, president of the organization during the press conference. The parties that have joined the renewal of the Pact and attended the joint signing are: Ara Ibiza, Ciutadans El PI, EPIC, Esquerra Unida, Per Balears, PP, Podem, VOX and PSOE.

The Pact for Water that all the signatories have committed to comply with plans to give continuity to the 20 actions established in 2019, aimed at improving the urban water cycle in Ibiza and which is based on four guidelines: supply, sanitation , water reuse and ecological restoration.

Some of the actions established in 2019 have already been completed, such as prioritizing the consumption of desalinated water or the declaration of the overexploitation of the Sa Serra Grossa aquifer. For this reason, the Pact for Water 2023 aims to continue to affect supply issues, but focuses on sanitation actions and, in particular, on the execution of Sewer Master Plans where the construction of a stormwater and waste water separation network, with the aim of reusing rainwater, as well as improving the purification of waste water, especially in times of torrential rain.

In addition, the Pact for Water 2023 has included new actions to ensure the supply of water in the summer season, the increase of water reservoirs, in the discharge network in masses that suffer from a poor quantitative state for allow the storage of desalinated water during the months of lower demand, allowing more availability in the months of greater demand.

At the same time, this new Pact includes actions aimed at mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change in terms of water availability, through ecological restoration and the creation of temporary natural ponds listed as habitats of priority community interest by the European Union for their values ecological